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Spotlight: Featured Download

Solving PC problems manually can be a lengthy and difficult process. You'll spend seemingly forever browsing obscure Control Panel applets, trying to figure out confusing settings, or digging deep into the Registry - and a single mistake could make the issue even worse.

The portable FixWin takes an entirely different approach to troubleshooting. Instead of requiring you to already understand the solution, it simply lists the problems and problem areas you might be seeing in various sensibly-named sections: File Explorer, Internet & Connectivity, Modern UI and so on.

We clicked "Internet & Connectivity" and saw options like "Right-click menu of Internet Explorer is disabled", "Cannot connect to the Internet", "Runtime errors in Internet Explorer", and so on.

All you have to do is scan down the list, locate the issue that you're experiencing, click the Fix button, and that's it - FixWin will apply the tweak and solve your problem.

If the canned fixes aren't quite good enough, FixWin also provides a "Troubleshooters" section where you can directly launch the regular Windows troubleshooter for your specific issue: power, printing, internet connection, whatever it might be.

While the program's fixes look safe to us, there is of course always a possibility that things could go wrong. The FixWin author has prepared for this, though, by providing a button on the Welcome Screen to create a system restore point. We'd recommend you click that before applying any fix, so if there is a problem then any system changes can easily be reversed.

Please note, this version is for Windows 8 only. If you're using Windows Vista/ 7, grab FixWin 1.2 instead.

FixWin 2.2 addd a Scanning feature. It can scan for problems and list possible problems with fixes. You don’t have to follow all recommendations, just the ones you think may need to be fixed. A description box appears before every fix.

Solving PC problems manually can be a lengthy and difficult process. You'll spend seemingly forever browsing obscure Control Panel applets, trying to figure out confusing settings, or digging deep into the Registry - and a single mistake could make the issue even worse.

The portable FixWin takes an entirely different approach to troubleshooting. Instead of requiring you to already understand the solution, it simply lists the problems and problem areas you might be seeing in various sensibly-named sections: File Explorer, Internet & Connectivity, Modern UI and so on.

We clicked "Internet & Connectivity" and saw options like "Right-click menu of Internet Explorer is disabled", "Cannot connect to the Internet", "Runtime errors in Internet Explorer", and so on.

All you have to do is scan down the list, locate the issue that you're experiencing, click the Fix button, and that's it - FixWin will apply the tweak and solve your problem.

If the canned fixes aren't quite good enough, FixWin also provides a "Troubleshooters" section where you can directly launch the regular Windows troubleshooter for your specific issue: power, printing, internet connection, whatever it might be.

While the program's fixes look safe to us, there is of course always a possibility that things could go wrong. The FixWin author has prepared for this, though, by providing a button on the Welcome Screen to create a system restore point. We'd recommend you click that before applying any fix, so if there is a problem then any system changes can easily be reversed.

Please note, this version is for Windows 8 only. If you're using Windows Vista/ 7, grab FixWin 1.2 instead.

FixWin 2.2 addd a Scanning feature. It can scan for problems and list possible problems with fixes. You don’t have to follow all recommendations, just the ones you think may need to be fixed. A description box appears before every fix.

SepPDF is a tiny portable tool which can save some or all of a PDF files pages to individual PDFs.

The program is barely 300KB, and its interface just a tiny dialog box. Drag and drop your target PDF, click "Split (All)", and you're done. SepPDF creates one PDF per page, with the same file name and the page number (file-1.pdf, file-2.pdf), saving the results in the same folder as the source.

A "Split [Page etc Input]" button provides more control. You can choose to extract a single page range by specifying the start and end pages, and there are options to specify the export folder, and to adjust the time stamp of the saved files to match the source.

SepPDF's abilities don't stop there. We dragged and dropped a protected PDF onto the program, expecting it to crash or otherwise complain, but no: it politely prompted us for the password, then correctly exported all our pages.

The program doesn't create a particularly good first impression. Small flat buttons present various cryptic icons, there's no bundled help (you have to download a separate PDF, which is incomplete and outdated), no menus, and - you'll soon realise - no real interest in following Windows conventions.

Learn a few shortcuts, though, and life becomes much easier. Press [F1], for instance, and a menu appears for the currently-selected left toolbar option. By default this displays no less than 26 "Drawing Modes": Normal, Scaled, Erase, XOR, MinMax and many more. Clicking any of these displays its related options, and you can just click and drag on the screen to see its effect.

Exploring the left-hand toolbar (with the menu displayed) reveals many other interesting tools. You can "paint" with various clipart objects (bushes, flowers, butterflies, marbles, beads and more); apply 20 very configurable "warp modes" (Explode, Waves, Splash, Twirl); twist and shift colours; set various symmetrical drawing modes, and apply a host of useful filters.

Clicking the "Image Tools" button on the right gives access to a more basic set of image manipulations and tweaks: flip, mirror, rotate, resize, and various automatic enhancement tools.

Basic? Maybe, but the Plugins button and you'll find Pixopedia supports Photoshop-compatible filter plugins (*.8BF). And not only that, but it comes with 20 (mostly very good) examples from providers like Richard Rosenman, Mehdi, Redfield, Flaming Pear and Dragonfly.

And the feature list goes on with various selection modes, a range of shape drawing options, a configurable text tool, and what just might be the most configurable set of brushes we've ever seen in any free tool (or most commercial ones).

X-Mouse Button Control is a free tool that enables you to put your mouse to better use, taking full advantage of each of its buttons. Used at its most basic, the program can be used to assign a range of different functions to mouse buttons, as well as the scroll wheel – the wheel, for example, could be used to scroll through documents, or adjust system volume levels.

Buttons can be configured to launch programs, open documents, perform specific functions within particular applications and much more. A scripting language can be used to create macros that simulate key presses which can then be assigned to buttons. No matter how many buttons you mouse has, X-Mouse Button Control enables you to create a huge number of options.

Each button can be assigned a primary function, but by creating different ‘layers’, activated by pressing modifier keys, even more options can be configured. The program can be used to assign different functions to the same mouse button depending on which application currently has focus, making this an incredibly versatile tool for the power user. X-Mouse Button Control can seem overwhelming to start with, but stick with it, and you’ll find that it is an immensely powerful utility.

Express Points is a free Windows and Mac tool for designing and showing slideshow presentations.

The program works much like a (very) simplified PowerPoint. 24 master slide templates help you build your presentation; you can customise each slide with text, bullet points, lists, shapes, images and audio files; and objects can be moved, resized or rotated to suit your needs.

A vertical timeline shows all your slides in sequence. You're able to rearrange and reorganise them as required (or add one of the 34 transitions), and the slideshow can be replayed when required to your audience.

There are plenty of limitations here, of course. Express Points can import PowerPoint PPTX files, for example, but the program will just ignore everything it doesn't support. These can be fairly basic elements, too, like slide backgrounds. The PPTX support may save you time, but don't expect too much.

It's not easy to collaborate, either, as you can't export your slideshow to PPTX or any other kind of easily editable format. It can be saved as a video (in all the main formats) or PDF, though, so you can at least show others what you're doing.

Still, Express Points does provide a solid set of basic presentation tools, and even partial PPTX import is better than nothing at all. If you're looking for a lightweight, simple way to create local presentations then we'd give it a try.

Spotlight: Free Full Software

The program makes it easy to create simple data discs and audio CDs, for instance: just drag and drop your files onto the list area and you'll be burning the finished disc in a couple of clicks.

That's just the start, though. Burning Studio 2013 can also create data discs with customised, interactive multi-page menus, perfect if you'd like a more professional way to share and present the disc contents.

A built-in backup tool allows you to create backups which may be encrypted, compressed, and span several CDs, DVDs and Blu-rays.

The focus throughout is on ease of use, though, and so Ashampoo Burning Studio 2013 remains very straightforward, whatever you're doing. Most disc projects are created via the same simple interface, and for the most part all you have to do is drag and drop the necessary files. But experts will find more advanced options are only a click away, and if you need to then you can set ISO and UDF version, enable Joliet, make a disc bootable and more.

Note the download here will take you to the Downloadcrew Software Store where you can download Burning Studio 2013.

Spotlight: Editor's Choice

As you'll guess from the name, Freemake Video Converter is able to convert videos from one format to another - but that's just the start of its capabilities.

The program imports a lengthy list of video formats, and can convert them to AVI, WMV, MP4 and 3GP formats. If you just want the file to play on a particular device, though, you can simply select one of many built-in device profiles. Choose the "to MP4" conversion option, for instance, and you can choose from presets including "iPhone, iPod Touch", "iPhone 4, iPad", "iPod Classic, Nano", "iPod 5G", "PSP", "Smartphones" and "Digital media players". Pick the option that best suits your hardware and Freemake Video Converter will prepare the file for you right away.

There's also support for ripping DVDs (unprotected only), and if you drag in a number of videos then the program will burn them to a video DVD. There's not a great deal of control over the results - you can choose text, thumbnail or motion menus, for instance, but can't view or customise them - however this does make the process very quick and easy.

If you'd prefer to share your clips with the world, though, it might be easier to put them on YouTube - and Freemake Video Converter can do that, too. Just import the relevant videos, click the To YouTube button, enter your account details and the clips will be published for you.

And other features allow you to join videos, extract the soundtrack from a movie, create photo slideshows, and more.